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Despite the long hours, hard work and travel
Crew Chief Kip McCord still relishes his role as a crew chief in the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series. What once started as an after school diversion has now
blossomed into a fulltime, all consuming career. A 25 year veteran in the sport,
McCord is ready to tackle the 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season with
renewed confidence in the No. 4 Dodge Motorsports Team and second year driver
Timothy Peters.
“It is a lot of hard work and you have to be dedicated,” McCord says. “But it is
rewarding at the same time. Putting what started out as an idea and transferring
that to the racetrack and having it work, that is where I get a lot of my
reward. It is self gratification to work with something and sometimes having it
outperform everything else out there that everybody else thought up. I think
that is what competitiveness is all about. Just trying to outthink and
outperform your competition. That works from a team perspective as well as from
a personal standpoint, as a team you want to be as good collectively as any
other group out there on any particular day.”
McCord started his racing career in the early 1980’s with driver and friend Mike
Alexander. The duo grew up together in high school and would go to the race
track after school everyday. A few years later Alexander called on his friend to
change tires on his race team full time.
“Some of the guys on Mike’s team nominated me to be a tire changer,” said
McCord. “I went out there and practiced a little bit, and caught the buzz and
was ruined. My life has been racing ever since.”
In 1989 the Alexander team closed the shop and McCord began working with the
newly organized Filmar Racing Team and driver Bobby Hamilton. The same team
brought Hamilton his first Busch Series win.
While at Filmar Racing, McCord worked with drivers Jeff Burton, David Green and
Kenny Wallace. Then the team relocated to North Carolina and McCord followed. He
gained valuable experience during this time serving as team manager for their
NASCAR Winston Cup Series team. Late in 1996 McCord left Filmar racing and moved
his family back home to Nashville.
“I realized after we won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Dover in 2004
with Chad Chaffin that I had been part of five different driver’s first career
NASCAR win,” said McCord. “That is pretty cool when I think about it.”
After a short stint with Sadler Racing and LAR Motorsports, McCord found his way
to Brewco Motorsports and driver Casey Atwood. While at Brewco, McCord led
Atwood to his first Busch Series pole at Nashville Speedway in 1998. And in his
first 27 races as crew chief with the team, McCord (along with co-crew chief
Jason Ratcliff) led Atwood to two wins, one pole, five top-five and nine top -10
finishes.
In 2000, McCord left Brewco and found his way “home” to BHR. He has filled just
about every position available at BHR and become a trusted confidant to owner
Bobby Hamilton. In 2004 he led Chad Chaffin and the No. 18 Dodge Racing Team to
two wins, including Chaffin’s first career NCTS win at Dover Downs International
Speedway. A feat he hopes to repeat by putting second year competitor Timothy
Peters in Victory Lane for the first time in his career.
“I think we have all the ingredients to do that,” McCord says. “Engineering, new
equipment, the driver and the team all the ingredients are there we just have to
stir them all up and be what they need to be. That is the biggest challenge
getting everybody on the team on board with what we are trying to accomplish. If
we can do that I think the wins will come. I feel confident about that. We have
to click as a team, as soon as that part comes along I think we can be
competitive on a week to week basis. I have a lot of confidence in Timothy and
in ability as a driver in this series.”
Notes:
- In 2004 Kip McCord led Chad Chaffin to two
career NCTS wins, including his first career win at Dover International
Speedway and his second at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
- In all McCord has been part of 5 driver's
first career win – Mike Alexander (1987) Bobby Hamilton (1989) David Green
(1991) Casey Atwood (1999) Chaffin (2004).
- In 2003 McCord served as General Manager
for BHR before he went on to finish the season as Crew Chief for Bill
Lester.
- In McCord’s 20 plus years in racing, he has
worked with drivers such as Kenny Wallace, David Green, Jeff Burton, Mike
Alexander, Casey Atwood and Bobby Hamilton in both NASCAR Winston Cup Series
and NASCAR Busch Series.
- In the late 1980’s Hamilton and McCord
worked together at Filmar Racing as crew chief and driver. During this time
period, the duo won their first NASCAR Busch Series race.
- Kip is a veteran Crew Chief and Chassis
Specialist. His multi-task expertise has been a tremendous asset to BHR.
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